Ideas and evidence in Science

4. Team recommendation

Required Resources

• Student Worksheet 2

Delivery

• This activity supports further understanding of the need for robust evaluation of data sources, as well as their effective extrapolation.
• Again the source material (data tables) concerns climate-change related to flooding and sea-level rises, this time focusing upon a fictional island in the Indian Ocean.
• Students should work in pairs for this activity and should each receive a copy of Student Worksheet 2.
• Each team should respond to the brief which requires them to evaluate a range of data from various sources.
• They should then produce a report that identifies past trends, proposes probable future weather patterns and makes recommendations for minimising any potential risks of damage to the island.
• Their suggestions need to consider the reliability of the data available.
• The report could be produced as a poster, a short presentation or a written proposal.
• Students should be encouraged to think creatively and laterally about specific data sources and their respective merits.
• In essence there are not right or wrong answers to this Worksheet, as long as students can justify their answers.

Differentiation

Lower Ability:

Mixed ability pairs aid differentiation.
You may want to provide a writing frame or headings for prompts to lower ability teams.